Deepak Chopra

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Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra in 2006
Born October 22, 1946 (1946-10-22) (age 62)
New Delhi, India
Nationality American
Occupation Physician, Public speaker, Writer, Philosopher
Spouse(s) Rita Chopra
Children Mallika Chopra and Gotham Chopra
Parents Dr. (Col) K. L. Chopra

Alternative Medicine
This article is part of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine series of articles.
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Deepak Chopra (Hindi: दीपक चोपड़ा; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American medical doctor and writer. He has written extensively on spirituality and diverse topics in mind-body medicine. Chopra says that he has been profoundly influenced by Jiddu Krishnamurti.[1] He has also been influenced by the teachings of Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita, and by the field of quantum physics.[citation needed] Deepak Chopra has influenced the New Thought Movement in the United States.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Early years

Chopra was born in Delhi. His father, Dr. (Col) K.L. Chopra, was a cardiologist in Mool Chand K.R. Hospital, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi (India) and served as a lieutenant in the British army. Chopra's grandfather practiced Ayurveda.[2] He completed his primary education at St. Columba's School in New Delhi and eventually graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Having graduated from AIIMS in 1969, Chopra emigrated to the US in 1970 with his wife, Rita, to do his clinical internship at a New Jersey hospital, followed by residency training for several more years at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts and at the University of Virginia Hospital. He specialized in internal medicine. He is board-certified [3] in internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism.[4]

Dr. Chopra is licenced to practice medicine in the states of Massachusetts (since 1973)[3] and California (since 2004),[5] is a member of the American Medical Association (AMA),[6] and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

[edit] Career

Chopra taught at Tufts University and Boston University Schools of Medicine, and became the Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital (later the Boston Regional Medical Center) in Stoneham, Massachusetts.[7] Chopra also established a large private practice.

Inspired after meeting New Delhi Ayurvedic physician Dr. Vaidya Brihaspati Dev Triguna,[2][8] in 1981, Chopra became a spokesperson in the Transcendental Meditation movement. Later, Chopra branched off on his own to pursue broader aims in mind-body treatment including, in 1993, the position of executive director of the Sharp Institute for Human Potential and Mind–Body Medicine, affiliated with Sharp Healthcare, in San Diego.[9]

Chopra is the co-founder of the Chopra Center, which he founded in 1996 in La Jolla, California with Dr. David Simon. In 2002, the Center moved its official headquarters to La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California with a branch in New York City. He has plans for other centers.

In 2004, Chopra was recruited to co-write a script with Indian film director Shekhar Kapur on a proposed film to be made about the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, but the plans were later dropped for unstated reasons.

In 2006, Chopra launched Virgin Comics LLC with his son, Gotham Chopra and Richard Branson, famed entrepreneur and thrill seeker. The aim of the company is to promote and examine South Asian themes and culture through comic books.[10] Deepak co-authored 'Ask the Kabala' with Mike 'Zappy' Zapolin and Alys Yablon in 2006, which is a set of 22 cards, each one representing a story or character from the Old Testament and a life lesson based on that story from a Kabalistic perspective.[11]

[edit] Principal themes

Many of Chopra's themes and beliefs are stated in his first book Creating Health, in 1986. He launched himself as a staunch advocate of the connection between mind and body, advocating meditation and self-awareness as primary factors in both illness and healing. He deepened these themes in Quantum Healing (1989), where he examined the mysterious phenomenon of spontaneous healing of cancer. Here he introduced quantum physics as a means of understanding the mind-body connection, arguing—as he would in many other books—that consciousness is the basic foundation of nature and the universe.

In Perfect Health (1991), Chopra authored the first widely read book on Ayurveda,[citation needed] the traditional system of Indian medicine. Besides outlining the Ayurvedic concept of body types (Prakriti), Chopra emphasizes that the roots of Indian healing lie in changing the holistic balance of mind and body.[citation needed]

Subsequent books have turned toward larger spiritual questions. In How to Know God (2000) and The Book of Secrets (2004), an argument is made for an all-pervasive intelligence that unites every living thing, rather than the traditional Western concept of God as a person, "a venerable white male sitting on a throne in the sky." Chopra sees God as a projection of human awareness, who becomes more expansive and universal as individual consciousness expands.[citation needed]

In his book Life After Death: The Burden of Proof (2006), he extends personal consciousness beyond the "artificial boundary that separates the living from the departed." Assessing the seven varieties of the afterlife described by various world religious traditions, Chopra offered the proposal that a person's awareness in the present shapes existence after death; that is, the afterlife is created uniquely for each of us by our present level of consciousness.[citation needed]

In 2005, Chopra became a staunch advocate for disarmament and international peace in Peace Is the Way, where he argues that a "critical mass" of people of like mind can defeat the global "addiction to war." In the same regard, he became president of a broad-based organization, Alliance of a New Humanity, that seeks to form "peace cells" around the world and to foster such related goals as environmental healing and sustainable economies in developing nations.

[edit] Intelligent design and religion

In August 2005, Chopra posted a series of articles in the blog The Huffington Post, to which he is a frequent contributor, offering his solution to the creation-evolution controversy. In doing so he expressed support for Intelligent design without the Bible, or the politics of religion. According to Chopra, Nature itself displays intelligence.[12]

In the article, Chopra states:

"To say that Nature displays intelligence doesn't make you a Christian fundamentalist. Einstein said as much, and a fascinating theory called the anthropic principle has been seriously considered by Stephen Hawking, among others."
"It’s time to rescue 'intelligent design' from the politics of religion. There are too many riddles not yet answered by either biology or the Bible, and by asking them honestly, without foregone conclusions, science could take a huge leap forward."

Chopra also offers a series of questions about evolution that he believes cannot be answered by science alone.[12][13] Science writer Michael Shermer, founder of The Skeptics Society and long-time critic of Chopra, posted a response.[14]

Chopra also believes Jesus was possessed of esoteric wisdom and may have studied Kabbalah.[15] In March 2008, Deepak and his daughter Mallika Chopra, did their first Christian radio interview with host Drew Marshall in which they discussed his book The Third Jesus.[16]

In 2009, Chopra was involved in a debate with Pastor Mark Driscoll on an ABC special entitled, "Does Satan Exist?.[17]

[edit] Reception

Through his over 50 books, his periodical PBS specials, his weekly Sirius-XM radio show, frequent appearances on Larry King Live, and extensive international speaking engagements, Dr. Chopra has become an increasingly recognizable face for progressive thought in alternative medicine and politics. At a state dinner in India in March of 2000, US President William Clinton said, "My country has been enriched by the contributions of more than a million Indian Americans, which includes Dr. Deepak Chopra, the pioneer of alternative medicine".[18] The June 1999 issue of Time magazine identified Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century and credited him as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine." At the Citation of the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic awarded by the Pio Manzu International Scientific Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev referred to Chopra as "A renowned physician and author, Deepak Chopra is undoubtedly one of the most lucid and inspired philosophers of our time."[19]

Chopra has been both lauded and criticized for his frequent references to the relationship of quantum mechanics to healing processes, a connection that has drawn skepticism from physicists who say it can be considered as possibly contributing to the general confusion in the popular press regarding quantum measurement, decoherence and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.[20] In 1998, Chopra was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in physics for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness".[21]

In its May 22/29, 1991 issue, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article coauthored by Chopra: Letter from New Delhi: Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern Insights Into Ancient Medicine.[22] This article was represented as discussing traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda). Upon investigation, JAMA editors found that the coauthors had financial interests in "Maharishi Vedic Medicine" products and services. In the 14 August 1991 edition of JAMA, the editors published a financial disclosure correction[23] and followed up in October 2, 1991 with a six-page Medical News and Perspectives exposé.[24] The series of events was reviewed by Skolnick in the Newsletter of the National Association of Science Writers.[25] In response to the JAMA exposé, two Transcendental Meditation groups and Chopra sued the author, Andrew Skolnick, JAMA's editor Dr. George Lundberg, and the AMA for $194 million in July 1992. Pursuant to a settlement agreement in 1993, the suit was dismissed by the judge at the request of the plaintiffs, with the option of reinstating pending completion of the settlement.[26]

In 2008, following the November attacks in Mumbai, Chopra commented on the Larry King Live show that there is a wider historic context of terrorism. Solving terrorism is not simply a matter of killing the terrorists involved. He spoke of how that larger context of terrorism included the role of the US military policies in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past thirty years. These policies include the Bush Administration's War on Terror. Chopra also speculated that Muslim extremists were threatened by the election of US president Barack Obama.[27][28] In danger of losing their primary ideological recruiting tool with the loss of a right wing administration, the terrorists may have staged their attack now in order to elicit a response that would garner maximum sympathy on the Muslim street.

Dr. Chopra suggested that the United States should look to the sources of money, arms and military training that comes from the West's oil purchases and military support of Pakistan. He suggested a variation of the Marshall Plan for the Middle East to address the educational, economic and ideological issues of the Muslim world.[27] Wall Street Journal columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz represented this position as blaming America for the Mumbai attacks, saying that Chopra is too quick to blame problems on America and that he fails to mention the "fanaticism and sheer mindless gullibility" that she believes to be the root cause of Islamic Fundamentalism.[27] Dr. Chopra followed up this exhange with a short letter to the Wall Street Journal and then a lengthier letter published in Huffington Post to address the personal attacks of Ms. Rabinowitz. In that letter he discusses his family's history as victims of Muslim extremists during the partition of India.

[edit] Teaching

Chopra has cast himself as a critic but not an enemy of conventional medicine. He teaches an annual update in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, where his younger brother, Sanjiv, is Professor of Medicine and Faculty Dean for Continuing Medical Education.[29][30][31]

[edit] Writings

Deepak Chopra has written more than 50 books. They range broadly across spiritual and health topics; including bestsellers on aging, the "Seven Spiritual Laws of Success," the existence of God, arguments for the afterlife and world peace. He has also written novels and edited collections of spiritual poetry from India and Persia.

[edit] Media

[edit] Books

  • 1987 Creating Health ISBN 0-395-75515-8
  • 1988 Return of the Rishi ISBN 0-395-57420-X
  • 1989 Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine ISBN 0-553-34869-8
  • 1991 Unconditional Life: Mastering the Forces That Shape Personal Reality
  • 1991 Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide ISBN 0-517-58421-2
  • 1993 Ageless Body, Timeless Mind : The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old ISBN 0-517-59257-6
  • 1993 Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities
  • 1994 The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfilment of Your Dreams
  • 1995 The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons in Creating the Life You Want ISBN 0-517-70434-X
  • 1995 The Return of Merlin: A Novel ISBN 0-449-91074-1
  • 1995 The Path to Love: Spiritual Strategies for Healing
  • 1997 The Path to Love: Renewing the Power of Spirit in Your Life ISBN 0-517-70622-9
  • 1997 The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents: Guiding Your Children to Success and Fulfillment
  • 1999 Everyday Immortality: A Concise Course in Spiritual Transformation ISBN 0-609-60484-8
  • 1999 Lords of Light: A Novel ISBN 0-312-96892-2
  • 2000 The Angel is Near: A Novel ISBN 0-312-97024-2
  • 2000 How to Know God : The Soul's Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries ISBN 0-609-60078-8
  • 2001 The Deeper Wound: Recovering the Soul from Fear and Suffering, 100 Days of Healing
  • 2001 Grow Younger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging ISBN 0-609-60079-6
  • 2002 Manifesting Good Luck Cards: Growth and Enlightenment
  • 2003 Golf for Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life
  • 2003 The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence ISBN 0-609-60042-7
  • 2003 Synchrodestiny: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles ISBN 1-84413-221-8
  • 2003 Manifesting Good Luck: Love and Relationships, 50 Card Deck
  • 2004 The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life ISBN 0-517-70624-5
  • 2004 Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens ISBN 0-689-86216-4
  • 2005 Peace Is the Way : Bringing War and Violence to an End ISBN 0-307-23607-2
  • 2005 The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga: A Practical Guide to Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit
  • 2006 Ask The Kabala: Oracle Cards/Kabala Guidebook ISBN 978-1401910396
  • 2006 Power Freedom and Grace: Living from the Source of Lasting Happiness ISBN 978-1-878424-81-5
  • 2006 Life After Death: The Burden of Proof ISBN 0-307-34578-5
  • 2006 Kama Sutra: Including the Seven Spiritual Laws of Love ISBN 978-1-852273-85-9
  • 2007 Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment ISBN 978-0-06-087880-1
  • 2008 The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore ISBN 978-0-307-33831-0
  • 2008 Why Is God Laughing? The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism
  • 2008 Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment ISBN 978-0061448737

[edit] Music CDs

  • 1998 A Gift of Love: Love poems inspired by Rumi
  • 2001 Soul of Healing Meditations - A Simple Approach to Growing Younger
  • 2002 A Gift of Love II: A Musical Valentine to Tagore
  • 2004 Chakra Balancing: Body, Mind, and Soul

[edit] Videos

  • 1995 Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
  • 1995 The Way of the Wizard
  • 2003 God and Buddha - a dialog
  • 2004 Soul of Healing - Body, Mind, and Soul Vol. 1

[edit] Other

Deepak Chopra also "presented" and had creative influence upon the India Authentic line of comic books from Virgin Comics, including Deepak Chopra's Buddha. These also feature forewords by Chopra and involvement from his son, Gotham Chopra.

Deepak Chopra participated in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie, made a cameo appearance in the 2008 comedy film The Love Guru, and in 2008 appeared in a run of Microsoft Windows advertisements entitled "I'm a PC".

On 14 December 2008, The Observer newspaper published an obituary of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi written by Deepak Chopra in its magazine supplement, The Observer Magazine.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Blau, Evelyne (May 1995). Krishnamurti: 100 Years. Stewart, Tabori, & Chang. p. 233. ISBN 978-1556704079. 
  2. ^ a b "Deepak Chopra: Physician, Author, Philosopher". http://www.webindia123.com/personal/abroad/deepak.htm. 
  3. ^ a b Massachusetts Board of Registration Physician Profile
  4. ^ "An article on Deepak Chopra, the bestselling spiritual author and new age guru". Life Positive. May 2000. http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/new-age-catalysts/deepak-chopra/chopra.asp. Retrieved on 2008-11-30. 
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ [Insert http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/member.do?id=1233951172026&index=0&page=1 AMA Profile]
  7. ^ Redwood, Daniel D.C.. "Quantum Healing". HealthWorld Online. http://www.healthy.net/scr/interview.asp?Id=167. Retrieved on 2008-11-30. 
  8. ^ Burton, Rosamund. "Peace Seeker". Nova Magazine. http://www.novamagazine.com.au/article_archive/06_04_Peace%20seeker.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-30. 
  9. ^ "Powell's Books - Return of the Rishi". http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-039557420x-0. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  10. ^ Singh, Arune (2006-01-12). "Eastern Philosophy: Deepak Chopra talks Virgin Comics". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6188. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  11. ^ "Ask the Kabala, a new book". 2006. http://www.kabala.com/askthekabala.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  12. ^ a b Chopra, Deepak (2005-08-23). "Intelligent Design Without the Bible". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/intelligent-design-withou_b_6105.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-30. 
  13. ^ Chopra, Deepak (2005-08-24). "Rescuing Intelligent Design — But from Whom?". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/rescuing-intelligent-desi_b_6164.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-30. 
  14. ^ Shermer, Michael. "Skyhooks and Cranes: Deepak Chopra, George W. Bush, and Intelligent Design". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shermer/skyhooks-and-cranes-deep_b_6179.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-30. 
  15. ^ Ofek-Arnon, Dorit (2007-12-27). "Incoming: Guru seeks Jesus". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517221907&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  16. ^ http://www.drewmarshall.ca/listen2008.html#080322
  17. ^ http://modernmarch.com/2009/04/02/abc-nightline-does-satan-exist/
  18. ^ "Clinton's India connection". The Times of India. 2003-8-24. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=144077. Retrieved on 2009-01-03. 
  19. ^ "Deepak Chopra M.D., Chopra Center". http://www.chopra.com/aboutdeepak. Retrieved on 2009-01-03. 
  20. ^ Stenger, Victor J. (January 2007). "Quantum Quackery". Skeptical Inquirer. http://www.csicop.org/si/9701/quantum-quackery.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  21. ^ "Winners of the Ig® Nobel Prize". Improbable Research. http://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig1998. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  22. ^ Sharma HM, Triguna BD, Chopra D (1991). "Maharishi Ayur-Veda: modern insights into ancient medicine". JAMA 265 (20): 2633–4, 2637. doi:10.1001/jama.265.20.2633. PMID 1817464. 
  23. ^ "Erratum in: JAMA 1991 Aug 14". JAMA 266 (6): 798. 
  24. ^ , (October 1991). "Maharishi Ayur-Veda". JAMA 266 (13): 1769–74. doi:10.1001/jama.266.13.1769. PMID 1653861. 
  25. ^ Skolnick, Andrew (Fall 1991). "The Maharhish Caper: Or How to Hoodwink Top Medical Journals". ScienceWriters. http://www.aaskolnick.com/naswmav.htm. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  26. ^ The Lancaster Foundation, Inc., The American Association for Ayur-Vedic Medicine, Inc. vs. Andrew A. Skolnick, George D. Lundberg, M.D., No. 82 C 4175 (U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, Judge Kocoras).
  27. ^ a b c Rabinowitz, Dorothy. "Deepak Blames America". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122809544395968075.html?mod=rss_opinion_main. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  28. ^ "Mumbai attacks: India news organisations blame 'outside' terrorists". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3530680/Mumbai-attacks-India-news-organisations-blame-outside-terrorists-Bombay-India.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  29. ^ "Deepak Chopra". NNDB. http://www.nndb.com/people/269/000046131/. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  30. ^ "Sanjiv Chopra MD at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center". http://services.bidmc.org/Find_a_doc/doc_detail.asp?sid=41414643494642. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 
  31. ^ "Aerosmith Steven Tyler: cancer rumor Hep C secret tv video interview". http://www.thecancerblog.com/2006/09/27/aerosmith-steven-tyler-cancer-rumor-hep-c-secret-tv-video-inter/. Retrieved on 2008-12-01. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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The New Age Movement
Proponents
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Persondata
NAME Chopra, Deepak
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Physician, Public speaker, Writer, Philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 1946-10-22
PLACE OF BIRTH New Delhi, India
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra"
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